US Agency for International Development

President Trump signs executive order EO 14169 that places a 90-day halt on foreign aid, but it’s unclear to USAID staff if that applies to just new disbursements or existing grants.

An unnamed USAID official receives an angry late-night phone call from Peter Marocco, the newly appointed Director of Foreign Assistance at the US State Department, accusing employees of trying to subvert the President’s executive order imposing a 90-day pause on all foreign aid.

Senior USAID staff meet to explain to unnamed admininstration officials that the slow way in which USAID payments are processed through other agencies led to the appearance that funds allocated before the Trump executive order took effect were directly subverting it. The administration officials seem confident they can explain to Peter Marocco.

The State Department issues a memo written by Peter Marocco and signed by Marco Rubio that not only puts a halt to future foreign aid but also insists on stop-work orders for ~6200 current grants and contracts at USAID.

Still convinced that USAID is deliberately committing insubordination against the executive order, Peter Marocco arrives at USAID with DOGE staffers Luke Farritor, Edward Coristine and Clayton Cromer to audit USAID’s accounts.

After the arrival, senior staff are summoned to a meeting with Gavin Kliger and Luke Farritor. They then presented agency leadership with a list of 57 employees involved with payments to be placed on immediate administrative leave. The list reportedly made little sense and involved many staff not involved with payments.

DOGE presents their evidence that the employees should be placed on leave based on a single email analysis made by Luke Farritor and sent to other DOGE members. “I could be wrong. My numbers could be off.” he writes, but the conclusions are not questioned or checked.

After USAID’s director of labor relations pushed back against the evidence presented to suspend and fire the employees, he threatens to report it to the Office of Special Counsel and emails the employees saying he has no grounds to keep them on leave. This leads to Clayton Cromer forcibly removing him from the building by security.

Jeremy Lewin and Elon Musk order the acting head of USAID to consent to locking every USAID employee worldwide out of all email and systems. He refuses, stating a sudden loss of access could get aid workers killed.

Farritor and Kliger demanded that all senior managers at USAID be stripped of their power to authorize payments - and that they alone become the authorizers.

The acting head of the USAID, Jason Gray, is removed and replaced by Marco Rubio who then names Peter Marocco the Acting Deputy Administrator for the agency, giving him absolute power to force his demands.

USAID Director of Security and deputy placed on administrative leave for reportedly trying to prevent DOGE from accessing personnel files and classified data

USAID website and 6 other related websites are taken offline by DOGE

DOGE staff wanted to work in the administrator’s suite at USAID, but their badges were not properly coded to provide access. The DOGE staff concluded this meant agency staff were keeping them out and could not be trusted.

Approximately 2000 USAID email accounts are deactivated

Elon Musk posts a series of tweets calling USAID evil and saying it is “time for it to die”

An email informing USAID staff that the building was indefinitely closed included Gavin Kliger’s email address

Elon Musk tweets that he and President Trump are shutting down USAID, bragging he had fed the agency “into the wood chipper”

All USAID staff are informed by email they will soon be placed on indefinite administrative leave with an email sent by “gkliger@usaid.gov”

DOGE staff attempt to use their access to Treasury systems to stop payment to USAID programs

DOGE posts a tweet boasting about the removal of signage for USAID

All USAID staff are placed on indefinite administrative leave

Gavin Kliger and Luke Farritor completely remove all access to the payments system for all other USAID staff

USAID Inspector General is illegally fired after releasing a report critical of DOGE’s actions

A USAID official under Trump testifies that “changes in the process by which payments can be made and approved by the Agency over the past weeks.” in the payment system were causing certain allowance statements to be delayed

Employees at USAID receive emails with a “Specific Notice of a RIF” effective in 60 days and signed by Peter Marocco. Employees were also placed on administrative leave.

In a ruling in J. Doe 1-26 v. Musk (D. Md), Judge Theodore D. Chuang finds that the decision to shut down USAID violated the Constitution in multiple ways and orders the agency must be reopened

Peter Marocco says that he will be succeeded at the agency by Jeremy Lewin and Kenneth Jackson

Almost all of the remaining 900 USAID employees are terminated by email from Jeremy Lewin with RIFs that will go into effect either in July or September

After Rubio and the Trump administration promised to keep many lifesaving humanitarian grant programs active, almost all of them are slashed over a weekend, only for some to be restored later. In one example, Peter Marocco ordered staff to comply with White House orders to stop all funds to Afghanistan. In other cases, Jeremy Lewin appears to have been involved with the alterations. USAID staff are not informed directly but find out from aid organizations whose funds have been cut.

CFPB leadership under Russell Vought decides to use this opportunity to attempt a massive RIF again. Emailing from his USAID email account, Jeremy Lewin kicks things off by providing Gavin Kliger and Adam Martinez with a letter to use for RIFs at the CFPB.

Gavin Kliger begins working with Adam Martinez of CFPB and Jeremy Lewin at USAID on the infrastructure for a massive RIF at the CFPB

Jeremy Lewin has a followup Teams call with CFPB chief legal counsel Mark Paoletta to plan for the upcoming massive RIF at the CFPB

Noah Peters at OPM denies the CFPB request for an “emergency” 30-day notice for a RIF at the CFPB

Under the direction of Marco Rubio, USAID officially ceases all operations for foreign aid. A study in the medical journal Lancet suggests that the end of USAID will lead to 14 million deaths worldwide by 2030, with 4.5 million of those being children under that age of 5.